Sugarcoated Lips
by Iridescent Chicanery
Summary: AU. Oneshot. A short story on how Makoto and Nephrite met.


A.N: This was entered into the Shitennou ficathon. The idea just sprung to my mind randomly and I quite liked it. I thought Makoto and Nephrite would be quite hard to characterise, but I think I've done them justice. I enjoyed writing the piece greatly.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon in any shape or form. BUT...I do own the plot.

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**_Sugar-Coated Lips_**

Lita watched the world rush around her as she lay on her back, looking up at the blue expanse above her. The delighted laughter of children filled the air as they flew their kites in the park; parents gently chiding them as they ran recklessly. Birds twittered and whistled merrily. The smell of spring was in the air.

Lita admired the smooth movement of the clouds across the sky. Just drifting without a care in the world. She sighed and rolled onto her stomach, blowing a lock of chestnut hair out of her eyes. Her gaze immediately focused on the lithe figure leaning against a sturdy oak tree. His knees were drawn up and a sketchbook rested on his thighs. His right hand moved furiously across the paper and his eyes kept darting up to glance at something behind Lita. A palette lay by his side, into which he squeezed some paints from tubes. Lita cocked her head slightly to the right, when he paid her no heed, a pout began to form on her lips.

Nathan escaped into an entirely different world when he was painting; a world filled with a fusion of colours and a path paved by his own desires. No amount of coaxing from Lita could ever make him abandon a piece once he started. However, this wasn't the Nathan that Lita knew when they first met.

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Two years ago

Lita put away the chopped up vegetables in an airtight container in the refrigerator and prepared for bed. Serenity had invited them all to a picnic and although she had insisted, quite vehemently, on being the sole provider of food for the picnic, Rei had easily dissuaded her from the idea by telling her how much they would all miss out if Lita didn't bring anything. The desired result was achieved when Serenity realised that every opportunity given to her to eat Lita's food should be seized immediately. The day prior to the picnic found Lita bustling furiously through her kitchen putting together salads, marinating chicken, making dressings and baking.

She stretched as she made her way to her room, covering her mouth as she yawned. She changed into her pajamas and snuggled into her covers, sleep soon consuming her.

-----

Beep. Beep.

Lita groaned, groping around in search of her alarm clock on the side table, but to no avail.

Beep. Beep.

She pulled the covers off her head and looked through bleary eyes at the clock. The blinking time read 12.01 pm.

Beep. Beep.

_Shit._ She was late. She was supposed to be at Serenity's house by one o'clock. That left her only an hour to put the final touches to the dishes, pack them up and take a shower. For her, that wasn't enough time.

Beep. Beep.

_Damn clock._

-----

1.20 pm

"Sere, I'm so sorry. I completely overslept. And you know me-"

"Yes! Yes! You can't leave the house until you have obsessively checked a hundred times that all the dishes are done to perfection, right?" said Rei cheekily.

"Yep, that's me!" replied Lita grinning.

"Honestly, we cured Ren of her tardiness and then you go and catch it. Well, we better be off then. Darien went ahead of us as some of his friends are coming along too."

"Is-"

"Yes Mina, that ass Jacen is coming as well. Don't you dare try anything," added Rei as an after-thought.

"Me? Try anything? I wouldn't," said Mina, failing to look innocent.

Lita laughed at her friends' antics and they hurriedly loaded the food into Serenity's car and made their way to the heath where they were to have their picnic.

-----

The moment Lita set her eyes on him, she felt like collapsing in a fit of giggles. Who on earth wore a suit to a picnic, in the summer no less? Her eyes widened further when she noticed the man that Mina always fantasised about, appear in casuals. That was shocking; she had never pictured him in anything but a suit. She shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to lay out the food on the blanket. The others, excluding herself, Kristophe and Nathan, were all playing with a Frisbee.

She began to feel slightly uncomfortable when she felt an unwavering gaze on herself. She looked up and noticed Nathan looking steadily at her. She smiled brightly at him, trying to ignore how flustered she felt under his hard gaze. A frown formed on his brow. Her smile faltered and she resumed her task of setting out the food.

Once she had set out the food, everyone settled down to eat, paying her compliments on her cooking, braving Serenity's dishes, which surprisingly had improved and just enjoying the outdoors and each others company. It was decided that once they finished eating they would go for a walk, and that was how Lita found herself in the company of the stoic businessman Nathan Ashtar.

-----

Nathan watched the tall brunette, who walked silently by his side, out of the corner of his eyes. She was stunning, that was an undeniable fact; but when she had first looked at him with laughter in her eyes, it didn't matter that she was stunning. He was furious. He didn't know why, but something about her looking at him and laughing didn't please him. Nathan, being who he was, a very straightforward and to-the-point type of person, opted for the direct approach.

"Why were you laughing at me?"

Even to him, that sounded extremely childish. He hoped she wouldn't pick up on that little fact.

"Excuse me?"

A pair of butterflies fluttering by had distracted her.

"I said, why were you laughing at me?"

"Was I? I don't recall laughing at you," said Lita, with a very confused expression on her face.

"Not laughing out loud. I could tell by the expression on your face," stated Nathan, in a somewhat irritated manner.

"Oh, you mean when I first saw you? Um, well, you see it's not everyday you see someone wearing a suit on a casual picnic with friends, you know."

Nathan's eyes narrowed as Lita's eyes brimmed with laughter and her lips pursed in an attempt to control the smile spreading across her face. He knew he shouldn't take what she was saying to heart, because it was clearly meant to be something he should laugh at, but that fact alone infuriated him even more. People making their assumptions and gauging his character according to their own scales; he didn't appreciate it.

"Clearly you have never heard of a thing people like to call a job. I happened to get off from work and immediately joined the company. My sincerest apologies if my attire was not suitable for a 'casual picnic with friends'. I wasn't aware there was a dress code," sneered Nathan.

The smile immediately dropped from Lita's face.

"Clearly you haven't heard of something called a joke! Well, forgive me for being so insensitive to your plight. If you will excuse me, I think I'll go now."

Lita turned sharply and stalked away from the tall form of Nathan Ashtar, who was left stunned by the stinging rejoinder.

Thus, started the not-so-healthy relationship between Nathan and Lita. Many more similar experiences followed that of the picnic, but on the whole they tried to avoid each other's company, yet somehow they always ended up in the same place. Fate was playing a cruel joke on the both of them.

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_Christmas_

Darien and Serenity had decided to host a Christmas party and had invited all their close friends and a few co-workers. Lita arrived at the party along with Mina. Initially, she had mingled with the crowd, talking to people, enjoying some champagne and a few dances, but soon grew tired and drifted out on to the balcony. And whom should she find there, but her long time tormenter. She grit her teeth at the sight of his long, brown hair.

_Idiot._

She moved to the opposite side of the balcony from where he stood. The balcony looked over the gardens, and Lita couldn't help but wonder how Darien came to be so well off. She loved the gardens. The times that she had visited she had admired the countless rose bushes planted at Darien's insistence. The heady smell of roses was carried up to her by a gentle breeze.

-----

Nathan caught sight of Lita and choked on the wine he had been sipping. _God, she was lovely._ After silently clearing his throat of the burning sensation, his gaze returned to the lone form on the other side of the balcony. She wore a black dress that was held up by two spaghetti straps. The dress flowed down to just slightly above her ankles. Her hair fell in soft waves around her, some of it held back by a golden clip. She was leaning on the railing of the balcony, a dreamy expression on her face. An empty champagne glass sat next to her elbow on the ledge. A soft rose-scented breeze tousled her hair.

Nathan was seized with the need to capture such a beautiful image. He committed that image to memory, from the way her dark hair contrasted with her white skin, to the way her green eyes seemed to be lost in the depths of some dream and he would remember the ever-present scent of roses.

He didn't know when it happened, but one day he found himself feeling quite differently about her. She was a source of irritation to him at first, but slowly she had grown into something so much more: a person around whom he felt he could be entirely himself. She brought out certain aspects of his character that he never thought he would show to anyone and the fact that she didn't even realise it, made her even more endearing to him. He couldn't imagine what she would do if he told her he felt some semblance of love for her.

"The stars are bright tonight."

Her soft words hovered in the night air.

"Hn."

"Trust you to be so frank," said Lita, laughing. "I always try to make out a constellation, but unfortunately, I'm no good at it."

Silence met her.

"That is the big dipper," said a voice very close to her.

Lita jumped and saw Nathan standing directly behind her pointing up to the sky.

"Where?"

"See that group of stars there. If you connect them together-"

Nathan's explanation was cut off by an exclamation from Lita.

"I see it! And that's the little dipper?" said Lita, eagerly pointing to another cluster of stars next to the big dipper.

"Yes," said Nathan, smiling softly at her enthusiasm.

"How did you know where they were?"

"I've always been interested in astronomy. I do a lot of...star gazing."

"Somehow, that seems to fit you. Maybe it's because your eyes...eh...um. So, what brought on this interest in astronomy?" asked Lita, nervously.

"I saw a shooting star when I was five."

Lita turned her head to look up at him and smiled. He really did surprise her sometimes. A few months ago, she would have been sure that he would never give her such a personal reason, probably something about the theory behind black holes and supernovae or something else equally confusing. For some reason, he seemed to be opening up to her, and it was a change that she welcomed. The part of her that was still somewhat like her 14 year old self couldn't help but be thrilled when he looked at her with his chocolate brown eyes filled with excitement as he explained to her the birth of a star.

"...can you see it?"

"Huh? Sorry, just got lost in thought there for a moment. What were you saying?" said Lita blushing.

Nathan raised his eyebrows in confusion, but shrugged off the rosy hue of her cheeks.

"The North star. Can you see it?"

"Um, no."

"There."

"Nope, still can't see it."

"Come on, it's right there."

"There where?"

"Where my finger is pointing."

"Yeah sure, where your finger is pointing into an endless black sky. Yeah, sure I can see it, what with all the other completely identical stars."

Nathan sighed and placed his hand on Lita's. He lifted her hand up and used her index finger to point at the North Star, turning her head slightly to her right.

"Can you see it now? It's the brightest star," said Nathan softly.

"Oh! You should have said that in the first place! Yep, I can see it now. What's so special about it?" said Lita turning her head to look up at Nathan.

"It was a star meant to guide sailors...when they were lost," replied Nathan.

Lita blushed furiously at the implication in his words. The romantic in her melted into a puddle at the parallels drawn between herself and the star and him and the sailor. What else could be more flattering to a woman than being described as a beacon of light to guide her loved ones.

Light strains of music floated out on to the balcony.

Nathan tall frame slowly bent over Lita's smaller form. He brushed a light kiss over her lips. His arms encircled her waist and hers went round his neck. She rested her chin on his shoulder, and a small smile blossomed on her lips; an identical one took form on Nathan's face. They danced on the balcony under the starlit night.

-------------------------

Lita smiled. Nathan had always been closed off to the world, but after their meeting he had slowly revealed himself to be quite different from what everyone believed him to be. She would never have believed anyone if they had told her two years ago that she would end up being engaged to Nathan, but now, it was hard to believe anything but that.

She stood up and went to sit beside him, observing his painting. A springtime painting. Lush green grass, tall trees, a pale blue sky, and a squirrel. It's simplicity made it all the more special.

"Nathan..."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"You have paint on your cheek."

Lita proceeded to rub at his cheek with a handkerchief, vigorously.

"Lita, that hurts. All right, I'll stop for a bit," said Nathan, when Lita pouted.

Lita pulled the picnic hamper towards them and pulled out a sugar-coated pastry and placed it on a plate.

"Here! I made your favourite," stated Lita smiling and handing him the plate.

Nathan smiled and took a bite out of it. Lita leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

"You know, you're very sweet," said Lita in a matter-of-fact tone.

Nathan smiled and pulled her to his side.

"What would I do without you?"

"Be left with sugar-coated lips?"

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End file.
